FEATURED
THE TOP THREE
1. Attorney General Barr issues order to deny bail to asylum seekers

What's going on
On Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr issued an order to deny asylum seekers a chance to post bail. The order could keep thousands in jail while they wait for the resolution of their asylum requests. The order does not go into effect for 90 days and is likely to be challenged in federal court.
What Ambassadors are saying
I think General Barr’s decision to date may actually exacerbate the situation. He announced it with a 90-day period implementation that will likely be subject to some legal challenges. As a practical matter you have some real logistical challenges in terms of detaining additional numbers of asylum applicants. Retention capacity is nearly full and 60 percent of asylum applicants are either families or unaccompanied minors so you also will run into the limitation as to how long you can hold, I believe it’s 20 days that you can hold minors. I think there are both logistical and legal hurdles that we’ll have to clear, but in the meantime what people in Central America will be seeing is an additional incentive to move north prior to the implementation of this order." (Ambassador Antonio Garza, former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Bloomberg )
2. U.S. wins WTO ruling against China's grain import quotas

What's going on
Yesterday the United States won a World Trade Organization ruling against China's use of tariff-rate quotas for rice, wheat and corn after successfully arguing the quotas limited market access for U.S. grain exports. The WTO said that under the terms of China's 2001 WTO accession, China's administration of the tariff-rate quotas as a whole violated its obligation to administer them on a "transparent, predictable and fair basis." The case was lodged by the Obama administration in 2016, and the WTO's ruling comes amid U.S.-China trade talks.
What Ambassadors are saying
Ambassador Chin on U.S.-China trade war: " The United States remains the one player that can effectively challenge China’s unfair practices. Trump’s tariffs have set the stage for policymakers, trade negotiators and China experts to develop a U.S.-led, worldwide strategy that is clear, forceful and has teeth, even if it means short-term economic hardship at home." (Ambassador Curtis Chin, former U.S. Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank, Los Angeles Times )
3. Russia announces oil, petrochemicals and coal ban to Ukraine

What's going on
 Yesterday Russia announced that it will ban oil, petrochemicals and coal to Ukraine starting in June. The announcement comes in the middle of Ukraine's presidential elections and puts pressure on presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky, who is expected to win Sunday's presidential run-off.
What Ambassadors are saying
"If you go back to the 1980s, [the United States] raised serious concerns with Europe on gas from Russia during the Cold War, and I think that the disruptions in Ukraine in 2006-09 emphasized that Europe should have alternative sources and should be as independent as possible. I would never say that Russia should not be selling gas to Europe, but they should be selling it in a competitive and transparent market. I hope that the steps that are being taken both in Brussels and to improve the infrastructure in this part of Europe will help create that competitiveness and transparency." (Ambassador Richard Morningstar, former Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy, Ekathimerini ).
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